Roche Singapore began formal operations in 1973 and has grown significantly to become a local leader in the Lion City
Today, Roche’s presence in Singapore spans pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, as well as two biologics manufacturing sites
Deeply committed to Singapore’s healthcare system for 50 years, Roche looks forward to continuing this success story in the future
Roche Singapore will launch a new Asia Pacific (APAC) healthcare innovation hub, bringing together public and private partners - this is the latest testament to Roche’s commitment to innovation for Singapore and the region
Singapore, 31 October 2023 - Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) today proudly commemorates its 50th anniversary of operations in Singapore. This milestone is being marked with a celebratory event attended by Mr. Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Health of Singapore and Dr. Thomas Schinecker, CEO of the Roche Group.
Roche Singapore started in a modest office on Shenton Way in 1973 and has grown into a local leader in diagnostics and innovative medicines across multiple disease areas. Today, Roche Singapore employs more than 1,000 people across its pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and manufacturing divisions.
Thomas Schinecker said, “The ties between Roche and Singapore run deep. We have grown together for more than 50 years. Singapore was Roche’s first site for biologics manufacturing in Asia and today we run not one, but two plants here. Singapore is also home to the regional headquarters of our diagnostics business and is a major hub for our pharmaceuticals division. This is testament to what can be achieved when public and private sectors work together for the long term benefit of people in Singapore.”
Looking ahead, long-term public-private partnerships (PPPs) will be a central focus for Roche Singapore - both deepening existing relationships and forging new ones. Tangible benefits have already been achieved with long-term PPPs such as the ARiSE Patient Support Programme and FlexCare collaborations with Singapore public healthcare institutions, and the partners are studying their future evolution.
Roche also remains committed to PPPs in their earlier stages, such as the research partnership with the Singapore Translational Cancer Consortium to build a local clinico- genomic database for precision oncology. [Note: Please see below for details about these PPPs]
Innovation has and will be the driving force for Roche Singapore in the future. Singapore is already the APAC base for Startup Creasphere, Roche’s global digital health innovation accelerator, which has supported four Singapore-based startups since its inception in 2020.
Last year, Roche and the National Health Innovation Centre (NHIC) announced an open innovation partnership to explore collaboration opportunities for clinically and commercially impactful healthtech projects from an early stage.
It is also working with various APAC ecosystem stakeholders to co-develop In-Co Hub, a new APAC hub for healthcare innovation. In-Co Hub will serve as an open innovation platform for Roche to partner with government agencies, venture capitals, accelerators and startups to bring promising innovations to market. With Startup Creasphere and In-Co Hub, Roche aims to accelerate adoption and scaling of biomedical innovation across the APAC region.
========== End of press release ==========
ARiSE (A Roche initiative for Support & Education) is a unique local patient support programme (PSP) that uses caps on financial outlay to flatten patients’ monthly out-of-pocket expenditure. PSPs in Singapore traditionally operate around provision of free units of medicine, but this often creates a significant administrative burden for hospital pharmacies. Patients on traditional PSPs also sometimes struggle to predict monthly financial outlay as the free goods supplies do not always match their dosing cycles.
ARiSE was started in 2016 together with the National Cancer Centre Singapore to address these issues. As of September 2023, it has provided more than SGD $30 million in financial subsidies to more than 2,400 patients in Singapore public hospitals on Roche innovative medicines and reduced patient out-of-pocket spend by an average of 80%. In addition, it has significantly reduced administrative workload at public hospital pharmacies. Today, ARiSE is accessible at all public healthcare institutions in Singapore.
Since 2017, Roche has partnered with National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS) and National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) to deliver cancer care to patients in the community and in their own homes, respectively. Such decentralised care was enabled by new subcutaneous formulations of key Roche cancer medicines and, in the case of the NCCS Home Care Programme, the partnership of Jaga-Me, a local mobile nursing services provider. For more information, please visit the websites of
The Precision Oncology study is a multilateral research partnership between Roche, the Singapore Translational Cancer Consortium (STCC), National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) and the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS) aimed at establishing critical infrastructure to advance adoption of personalised cancer care in Singapore.
Established in 2022, the three-year partnership entails STCC, NCCS and NCIS offering their medical expertise, research insight and data resources to build a consented clinico-genomic database (CGDB) in Singapore that combines clinical insights and real-world evidence with the goal of yielding better patient outcomes. To support this aim, Roche is providing access to 5,000 comprehensive genomic tests subsidised by Roche to patients at the onset of treatment and also advises on the design and implementation of the Singapore CGDB.
Founded in 2018 by Roche and Plug and Play,
Founded in 1896 in Basel, Switzerland, as one of the first industrial manufacturers of branded medicines, Roche has grown into the world’s largest biotechnology company and the global leader in in-vitro diagnostics. The company pursues scientific excellence to discover and develop medicines and diagnostics for improving and saving the lives of people around the world. We are a pioneer in personalised healthcare and want to further transform how healthcare is delivered to have an even greater impact. To provide the best care for each person we partner with many stakeholders and combine our strengths in Diagnostics and Pharma with data insights from the clinical practice.
In recognising our endeavour to pursue a long-term perspective in all we do, Roche has been named one of the most sustainable companies in the pharmaceuticals industry by the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for the thirteenth consecutive year. This distinction also reflects our efforts to improve access to healthcare together with local partners in every country we work.
Genentech, in the United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche is the majority shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan.
For more information, please visit
E-mail:
Phone:
This website contains information on products which is targeted to a wide range of audiences and could contain product details or information otherwise not accessible or valid in your country. Please be aware that we do not take any responsibility for accessing such information which may not comply with any valid legal process, regulation, registration or usage in the country of your origin.